Last week we reviewed the first critical step to SQL Server database management – assessing your current environment to develop a map guiding a management overhaul. Having the most comprehensive view of the database helps inform design and decisions on backup and recovery policies – the second essential step in optimized management.

Since high-availability capabilities exist, some DBAs get tripped up thinking disaster recovery is covered as a result. This is a common misconception.

In actuality, high availability and disaster recovery are not synonymous.

High availability refers to the processes put in place to ensure applications and services running on a database remain up, while disaster recovery refers to retaining the data within SQL Server in the event of an outage.

The need for a disaster recovery prompts DBAs to review their backup and recovery strategies. Backup and recovery go hand and hand. There is no way to simply implement a recovery strategy, which typically takes a lot of effort and a multi-phase approach, without first assessing backup processes. Download the “The Essential DBA Playbook for Optimized SQL Server Management” to learn more.